`` Pocket notebooks was a huge part of my setup until the COVID pandemic started in early 2020, and then they kind of fell out of use for me. And since late 2021 I’ve slowly started to get into using them again.

Their primary focus for me, is the thing I always have with me that I use to do hitlist and capture stuff or to plan things. What I often do is that I bring it with me when I walk the dog and plan the stuff I’m going to do after the walk.

When I’m out I use them to capture stuff, and sometimes I keep lists in there because I don’t want to get dragged into digital tools.

The big difference with all the other notebooks I have and pocket notebooks is that, all the others are things I use every single day, while pocket notebooks are something I use much less in a regular way. I just use them when I need them and forget about them most of the time.

Funny that I planned to start a series on how I do my productivity system two weeks ago, wrote about it and then forgot about it last week.But now it’s actually starting.

I’ve used a variant of this concept without that name for years upon years. Not sure when I started to call it a hitlist, but at some point it just needed a name.

For a long time I used a “Next” collection or project in what ever task management system I was doing at a time. Where the idea is to just have like the next 5-10 items I am going to do. In some periods I’ve done it in separate notebooks, other times as a part of the task management system. Usually only when it’s been on paper, because it doesn’t really work for me in digital. Except for when I’ve done systems that are more based on files and notes like Taskpaper and Agenda and kept separate files for Next.

Anyways. At the moment I use Rhodia dotpads for it, most of the time. And some times I use a pocket notebook for it. As of the time of writing my pocket notebooks of choice is passport sized Travelers notebooks in dot grid.

And the way I use this is that I open the notebook and I have one half for the next things I’m doing and one half for capture. In pocket notebooks I use one page for each and in the dotpad I usually just draw a line in the middle. The ideal for me is when I’m able to limit myself to 5 next items, because it isn’t distracting or discouraging and it is few enough to be able to be relatively flexible.

I was cleaning some stuff in my car the other day, and I found my old Space Pen. Probably been in there for multiple years at this point.

I took it out, cleaned it up, and tested it out. And it is a fun pen. But way too small for my giant hands. Plus I more and more feel like I don’t want to write with these kinds of pen ever. Gel pens are fun because you have great colors and they’re kind of like a non-fountain pen fountain pen.But the rest are so boring.

Sometimes I get the idea: maybe I should get some index cards?

But this whole segment of stationery is really strange. On one side you have all of this super cheap stuff, and on the other you some hilariously overpriced stuff.

In the old days I’d just order some from Nock.co.

These days I just end up not buying anything because it’s either not what I want, super expensive or from somewhere I usually don’t order from.

I recently wrote about how I’m back to bullet journaling, and I thought I’d write about the rest of my task management system.

It always changes to keep things working with my ADHD.

I’m going to break this into different areas, and then try to explain how it is tied together. Almost all of it has both analog and digital parts.

Starting off with calendars and capture next week and take one part of it after each other until I’m done.

As I continue to use the journals I have developed a great appreciation of how flexible the structure is.

When you move beyond defining your theme and start making your daily themes and filling out the journal pages you can kind of do what ever is the right for you.

Like the daily themes can mostly just be used to track habits. There are 15 days and 14 themes per spread. But I have used them in many different ways while using the system since I got the first one in December last year. Sometimes I track two things per row by filling in a half for each, but usually I fill half if I did some but not enough.

And the journal pages are the thing I think has an amazing amount of flexibility. You just have four boxes. Two medium, one large and one small. In the start I used the small ones to review the day first one for personal and the second of work or my daughter. But slowly moved to write a bit good or bad about some of the daily themes or theme goals.

In the large I just write down anything that is on my mind in relation to the theme goals or the daily theme. And the small one I just write down what should be the most important for the following day.

This is what I have found is good for me right now. But there isn’t really a manual or rule book for how to use them. And that is the great thing.

It is really hard to make something that is flexible like this.

I’ve been very overwhelmed lately. The regular ADHD crap. So I decided to get back to using a bullet journal.

I used to have an digital bullet journal, but it just became this huge thing with way too much stuff in it.

So I have moved my system back to how it used to be. A big electronic database with everything. Then a analog bullet journal that I move things into. Usually never more than 5-15 pages of stuff at a time.

When I work I do my usual trick of just writing down the 5 next things I’m going to do and working from that. I just use the bullet journal to have more like the focus for the next 3-4 hours, while the list I’m working from is usually more like the next 5-30 minutes.

Another thing I started doing with my bullet journaling is that when I transition stuff over, usually every 2-3 days, I fill the first page with the following: my theme, 5 things I’m focusing on and my 5 main goals at the moment. This have been very important to keep me grounded and on target.

I started a subscription to around half way into the first one.

The way I use the system is that I set a theme for one notebook and then I adjust when I move over to a new one. From the first to the second one I changed the wording of the theme, but not much of the goals of it. Mostly to put an emphasis on sustainable change in my life.

The daily journal pages I mostly use the same way I have for a long time. I use the two smaller blocks at the top to mention the two most important things of the day, ideally connected to either the theme or any of the daily themes. Then I use the large block to write down bullet points about things that are on my mind related to the theme and daily themes.

And in the small at the botton I write down 1-3 main things for the next day.

The daily themes is something I change a lot. After each 15 day period I evaluate all of them and set a new set of 14 spread across a few key areas. There are always a few things that are changed, and some times I change most of them.

This system works great for me this far, and it makes it really easy to define what is the most important.

I recently got an EF nib unit for my Vanishing Point.

The reason I got it was because I wanted something that was quick to get out and start writing with, that also would dry very fast to use in my bullet journal. And this nib unit more or less works perfectly for this. And I got to say that this width works way better than any of the broader versions of it I have used in the past. It never starts slow or anything like that. Something that always was a big issue for me with the medium and broad nibs I have used in the past.

I’m really happy with it this far, and it have been what I use most of the time in my Bullet Journal.